Lanard Toys Limited v. Dolgencorp LLC

958 F.3d 1337
Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit·Decided May 14, 2020·No. 19-1781·Published·Cited by 33 cases

Opinion

United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

LANARD TOYS LIMITED,

Plaintiff-Appellant

v.

DOLGENCORP LLC, JA-RU, INC., TOYS "R" US-

DELAWARE, INC., Defendants-Appellees

2019-1781

Appeal from the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida in No. 3:15-cv-00849-MMH-PDB, Judge Marcia Morales Howard.

Decided: May 14, 2020

RICHARD PAUL SYBERT, Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP, San Diego, CA, for plaintiff-appellant. Also represented by REID E. DAMMANN, Los Angeles, CA.

LEWIS ANTEN, Lewis Anten, PC, Encino, CA, for defendants -appellees. Also represented by FREDERICK D. PAGE, Holland & Knight LLP, Jacksonville, FL; ILENE PABIAN, Miami, FL.

Before LOURIE, MAYER, and WALLACH, Circuit Judges.

2 LANARD TOYS LIMITED v. DOLGENCORP LLC

LOURIE, Circuit Judge.

Lanard Toys Limited (“Lanard”) appeals from the decision of the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida granting summary judgment in favor of Dolgencorp LLC, Ja-Ru, Inc., and Toys “R” Us–Delaware, Inc. (collectively, “Appellees”) with respect to Lanard’s claims for design patent infringement, copyright infringement , trade dress infringement, and statutory and common law unfair competition. Lanard Toys Ltd. v. Toys “R” Us- Delaware, Inc., No. 3:15-cv-849-J-34PDB, 2019 WL 1304290 (M.D. Fla. Mar. 21, 2019) (“Decision”). For the reasons described below, we affirm.

BACKGROUND

Lanard makes and sells the “Lanard Chalk Pencil,”

which is a toy chalk holder designed to look like a pencil. Lanard owns Design Patent D671,167 (the “D167 patent”), which contains five figures showing a pencil-shaped chalk holder from different angles. The D167 patent claims: “The ornamental design for a chalk holder, as shown and described.” Lanard also owns copyright Reg. VA 1-794-458 (the “’458 copyright”) for a work entitled “Pencil/Chalk Holder.” The relevant images are depicted below.

Lanard Chalk D167 patent ’458 copyright Pencil (Fig. 1) (first image)

LANARD TOYS LIMITED v. DOLGENCORP LLC 3

In 2011, Lanard began selling the Lanard Chalk Pencil to Dolgencorp LLC (“Dolgencorp”), which is a national distributor . In 2012, Lanard began selling the Lanard Chalk Pencil to Toys “R” Us–Delaware, Inc. (“TRU”), which was a large toy retailer with stores throughout the United States. All Lanard Chalk Pencils sold to Dolgencorp and TRU were marked to indicate Lanard’s copyright and patent (or pending patent) protection.

In 2012, Ja-Ru, Inc. (“Ja-Ru”) designed a toy chalk holder that looks like a pencil.

Ja-Ru Product

It is undisputed that Ja-Ru used the Lanard Chalk Pencil as a reference sample in designing its product. In late 2013, Dolgencorp and TRU stopped ordering units of the Lanard Chalk Pencil and instead began ordering and selling the Ja-Ru product.

On March 27, 2014, Lanard filed suit in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey against Dolgencorp, TRU, and Ja-Ru, J.A. 168–84, and the case was subsequently transferred to the Middle District of Florida, J.A. 1122–32. Lanard’s Second Amended Complaint , which is the operative complaint in the case, asserts four causes of action: (1) copyright infringement; (2) design patent infringement; (3) trade dress infringement; and (4) statutory and common law unfair competition under federal and state law. J.A. 1180–96.

4 LANARD TOYS LIMITED v. DOLGENCORP LLC

The parties filed cross motions for summary judgment relating to all claims, and the district court granted Appellees ’ motion. Decision, 2019 WL 1304290, at *28–29. Specifically , the court granted summary judgment that Ja-Ru’s product does not infringe the D167 patent, that the ’458 copyright is invalid and alternatively not infringed by Ja- Ru’s product, that Ja-Ru’s product does not infringe Lanard’s trade dress, and that Lanard’s unfair competition claims fail because its other claims fail. Id. at *28. Lanard appealed, and we have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1295(a)(1).

DISCUSSION

We review a district court’s grant of summary judgment according to the law of the regional circuit. Kaneka Corp. v. Xiamen Kingdomway Grp. Co., 790 F.3d 1298, 1303 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (citing Halo Elecs., Inc. v. Pulse Elecs ., Inc., 769 F.3d 1371, 1377 (Fed. Cir. 2014)). In the Eleventh Circuit, a grant of summary judgment is reviewed de novo, “construing the facts and all reasonable inferences from the facts in favor of the nonmoving party.” Stardust, 3007 LLC v. Brookhaven, 899 F.3d 1164, 1170 (11th Cir. 2018) (citing Urquilla-Diaz v. Kaplan Univ., 780 F.3d 1039, 1050 (11th Cir. 2015)). Summary judgment is appropriate when “there is no genuine dispute as to any material fact and the movant is entitled to judgment as a matter of law.” Fed. R. Civ. P. 56(a).

I

We begin, as the district court did, with Lanard’s claim for design patent infringement. Determining whether a design patent has been infringed is a two-part test: (1) the court first construes the claim to determine its meaning and scope; (2) the fact finder then compares the properly construed claim to the accused design. Elmer v. ICC Fabricating , Inc., 67 F.3d 1571, 1577 (Fed. Cir. 1995). In comparing the patented and accused design, the “ordinary observer” test is applied—i.e., infringement is found “[i]f,

LANARD TOYS LIMITED v. DOLGENCORP LLC 5

in the eye of an ordinary observer, giving such attention as a purchaser usually gives, two designs are substantially the same, if the resemblance is such as to deceive such an observer, inducing him to purchase one supposing it to be the other.” Egyptian Goddess, Inc. v. Swisa, Inc., 543 F.3d 665, 670 (Fed. Cir. 2008) (en banc) (quoting Gorham Mfg. Co. v. White, 81 U.S. (14 Wall.) 511, 528 (1871)). The infringement analysis must compare the accused product to the patented design, not to a commercial embodiment. See Payless Shoesource, Inc. v. Reebok Int’l, Ltd., 998 F.2d 985, 990 (Fed. Cir. 1993); see also High Point Design LLC v. Buyer’s Direct, Inc., 621 F. App’x 632, 642 (Fed. Cir. 2015) (“We have long-cautioned that it is generally improper to determine infringement by comparing an accused product with the patentee’s purported commercial embodiment.” (citing Sun Hill Indus., Inc. v. Easter Unlimited, Inc., 48 F.3d 1193, 1196 (Fed. Cir. 1995), abrogated on other grounds by Egyptian Goddess, 543 F.3d at 672–79)).

Lanard asserts three challenges against the district court’s decision on design patent infringement. First, Lanard argues that the court erred in its claim construction by eliminating elements of the design based on functionality and lack of novelty. Second, Lanard argues that the court erred in its infringement analysis by conducting an element-by-element comparison rather than comparing the overall designs. Third, Lanard argues that the court used a rejected “point of novelty” test to evaluate infringement .

Appellees respond that the court properly construed the claims by relying on the drawings and also noting the ornamental and novel aspects of the design. Appellees argue that the court used the correct “ordinary observer” test to compare the overall appearance of the patented design with the Ja-Ru product. According to Appellees, the court properly considered how each element, particularly non- functional and novel elements, impacts the overall 6 LANARD TOYS LIMITED v. DOLGENCORP LLC

appearance of the patented design. For the following reasons , we agree with Appellees.

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Lanard Toys Limited v. Dolgencorp LLC, 958 F.3d 1337 (Fed. Cir. 2020).

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